The United States has announced a donation of nearly $92m as additional humanitarian assistance to people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency and severe food insecurity in the North-East and the Lake Chad Basin region.With this donation, the US said it had provided more than $291m in humanitarian assistance in the 2016 fiscal year to people affected by Boko Haram-related conflicts.

The US continued to be the single largest humanitarian donor to the region, a statement on Wednesday in Abuja from the Information Office of the US Embassy stated.

“This new funding to United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisation partners will help tens of thousands of people receive critically needed humanitarian assistance, including food, water, shelter, and services to address acute hygiene, protection and nutritional needs,” the statement added.

The statement hinted that the insurgency had left more than 6.4m people in need of emergency food assistance and displaced 2.6m people in Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.

It said that the United Nations estimated an additional $1bn was needed to meet the humanitarian needs of people in 2017.

The US called on other donors to contribute additional humanitarian assistance for the millions of people in the region whose lives had been affected by Boko Haram.